In 2017, 84% of Protestant pastors reported that their church used Facebook as their primary online communication tool. (Source: LifeWay Research)   With the social distancing and safer-at-home realities of COVID-19, this percentage will increase on all social media platforms.  “Online church” is part of the new normal, and social media is a significant portion of “online.” As more and more churches, and their parishioners, turn to social media, it’s only natural to assume the social

2020 is undoubtedly an unprecedented time for businesses. COVID-19 has had a significantly negative impact on employers and employees. Even more unfortunate is the number of businesses that have closed with the looming concern regarding if and how they will reopen. Equally unfortunate Is the employees who were furloughed or lost their jobs We Will Come Back One thing that is certain; the Covid-19 virus cannot destroy is the American entrepreneurial spirit. Businesses that closed

Twenty-five years ago, social media influencer wasn’t a career title, personal mistakes weren’t plastered online for the world to see, and communication wasn’t instantaneous and reactions even faster. In 2019, however, the world is well aware of how quickly information travels. While social media has provided us with an effective way to share products, memes, and opinions, it can also spotlight offensive behavior. According to Pew Research Center, in 2018, 88% of 18- to 29-year-olds

Between Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, it seems that almost everyone is accessible through social media. While the general public thinks of social media as a platform for airing personal opinions, preferences, and photos, it can also serve as a useful tool for hiring managers. Screening social media accounts provides employers with insight into how well a potential new hire would fit with their company and reduces the risk of making a poor hire. Screening

Social media screening is becoming part of the mainstream background check process, similar to criminal records, financial history, and credentials.  As evidence of how mainstream it has become CareersBuilders.com reported that 70% of employers use social media for candidate research. If you are considering using your staff (HR and recruiting professionals) to perform social media screening, there are numerous risks.   Not only can your company be questioned about bias, but this raises concerns of having

Social media codes of conduct and policies can protect your business from the dangers of damaging online behavior if they exist and communicated to your staff and employees. The importance of these guidelines continues to rise because the frequency of social media mistakes and wrongdoings has increased. The Pew Research Center reports that nearly 70% of adults use social media.   A Bambu survey revealed that 7 in 10 people check social media at work. 

As a new company, particularly one established to monitor and screen social media activity of potential candidates for employment, I felt it imperative that Social Media 23 should have a Social Media Code of Conduct for its employees.  Therefore, I set out on the journey to create such a Code of Conduct for Social Media 23. This article includes information about: How I went about the process,What I discovered about other organizations and institutions existing

Social Media usage for hiring has two distinct categories: recruitment and screening.  Each category yields value, but social media screening exposes risk to the hiring organization.  This article establishes the role of each category and provides methods to minimize social media screening risk. Recruiting According to SHRM, recruiting via social media is used, or will be used, by a staggering  93% of organizations.  That includes 84% of organizations currently using it and 9% planning to

Background screening commonly includes criminal, education, financial, professional certification, employment status, and other areas of a candidate’s history.  Social media is now joining the list of standard background checks. You don’t have to search very long to find many examples of social media history and behavior affecting employees and their employment status.  Sometimes, people have been fired from positions based on recently discovered social media posts of their past.  Others have lost jobs before they

Bias occurs in all areas of our lives and is especially prevalent in hiring.  With decades of study and action to eliminate it, bias remains an issue that haunts HR and hiring professionals. Vanderbilt University defines unconscious bias as “prejudice or unsupported judgments in favor of or against one thing, person, or group as compared to another, in a way that is usually considered unfair.”  Many researchers think unconscious bias occurs automatically, as the name